The National Practitioner Data Bank is a United States Government program that the collects and discloses, only to authorized users, negative information on health care practitioners, including malpractice awards, loss of license or exclusion from participation in Medicare or Medicaid.
Contents
The Data Bank was created by Congress with the primary goals of improving health care quality, protecting the public and reducing health care fraud and abuse. The Data Bank is managed by the Bureau of Health Workforce of the Health Resources and Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before May 6, 2013, the Data Bank comprised the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank. The two were consolidated by Section 6403 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, Public Law 111-148.
Information Collected
Access
Access to the information is limited, and is not available to the general public. It is provided to hospitals, other health care entities, professional societies, state and federal licensing and certification authorities (including Medical and Dental Boards), and agencies or contractors administering Federal or State health care programs.
In addition, individual healthcare providers can obtain access to their own records; this information is also in some cases available to those who may be suing them. Researchers may also obtain statistical data, but not data on individuals.